It's not the crime, per se.

I'm going to admit that I lit my hair on fire and lost perspective. I have no excuse for it, but hopefully, you all can relate. My personal passion is policy matters. The logic, the interrelationships, the transcendence of the issue at hand relative to all other possible issues are, to me, fascinating. Nothing is as simple as it first appears.

Now that the burnt flesh of indignation and self-righteousness has sloughed off, I have to apologize. Goodell had to do what he did.

Several friends have been successful federal and state prosecutors. Over the years, they've tutored me on theory of crime, procedure, logic, justice, etc. The ONE universal concept that each has held is "DO NOT LIE OR OBSTRUCT." Punishments triple, at least, when one doesn't cooperate fully.

The health of a society hinges on justice. For justice to be served with fairness and a timely manner, it is important that individuals buy-into the concept that lying and obstructing is the most destructive force to any society. Lying and obstructing is an attempt to avoid justice and undermine that society.

It doesn't matter what one might think of the "bounty" program. It doesn't matter that there was no meaningful event occured due to its existence. It doesn't matter that there was going to be a specific repercussion for its existence.

It only mattered that it did happen and the parties involved confessed.

The most serious part of the affair was the lying and the cover-up. Absolutely intolerable. Those involved are not being punished for a truly minor competitive infraction. They are being punished for an egregious affront to the honor of our team, our city and our society.

I am still wounded by the severity of the punishments, but, as a policy geek, Goodell had little choice.

Comments

I respect your opinion, and your desire to be objective. But, I don't think we as fans have been as short sighted as you may think. In fact, I don't think we've been short sighted at all, with the exception of a few crazy people, perhaps. I completely agree that Roger had to punish the Saints, but I think Gregg Williams' suspension along with all the fines would have sent enough of a message.

Instead he trashes the head coach for a year, the general manager for half the year, takes away picks and continues to ignore other bounty programs around the league, with the assumption that they are less severe, even though he has yet to investigate them. That isn't justice.

I get your point on the lies and cover. My only issue is the severety of the penalties when compared to the big picture of infractions in the NFL. Vick commited a Federal offense and also lied. He should have been banned for life. Same goes for the 49ers and the Pats, they cheated and lied to the NFL for years. They were fined and picks taken but nobody was suspened but the Saints have three coaches suspened along with the fines and picks. This is not justice. Thing is, of all these infractions the Saints bountygate had the least amount of damage to the NFL. Vick ruined the Falcons, the 49ers and Pats, no telling how many cities they robbed of glory. What was the impact by the Saints? There is not one example of a player being carted off the field and removed from the game with an illegal hit.